Sunday, March 06, 2005

You Can't Handle the Truth

Happy Monday.

Editor's note - My brother made an interesting point yesterday: "Sgrena's gone from an 'Italian journalist' to a 'communist journalist' over the weekend." Translation: "they're" already negating her work...because she's a "commie."

Part of her work? Investigating the attrocities in Fallujah and the possible use of NAPALM.

"By the evil-doers?"

Uh, not quite. Here's one of her articles (dated Nov 23, 2004) from Il Manifesto --

"When are you gonna get it through your thick liberal skull that she's a commie?"

People from Saqlawiya village, near Falluja, told al Jazeera television, based in Qatar, that they helped bury 73 bodies of women and children completely charred, all in the same grave. The sad story of common graves, which started at Saddam’s times, is not yet finished. Nobody could confirm if napalm bombs have been used in Falluja, but other bodies found last year after the fierce battle at Baghdad airport were also completely charred and some thought of nuclear bombs. No independent source could verify the facts, since all the news arrived until now are those spread by journalists embedded with the American troops, who would only allow British and American media to enrol with them. But the villagers who fled in the last few days spoke of many bodies which had not been buried: it was too dangerous to collect the corpses during the battle.

Hmm.

Weird. That article was published...right before she was captured by "insurgents."

Think, think, think.

Read on, please.

Dateline - Iraq.

By now, you've probably heard the story of Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian journalist who was wounded by American soldiers AFTER her release from "insurgent captors." From the Washington Post:

ROME, March 5 -- An Italian journalist freed from captivity in Iraq said Saturday that a "rain of fire" from a U.S. roadside patrol hit her vehicle as it slowly approached the airport in Baghdad, injuring her and killing an Italian intelligence agent also inside. Her version of events ran counter to the one U.S. officials provided a day earlier.

Giuliana Sgrena, wearing a plaid shawl draped around her shoulders, was helped down the steps of an airplane at Rome's Ciampino airport after arriving from Baghdad Saturday at noon. She later described the shooting and called the U.S. gunfire on the vehicle unjustified.

"We weren't going very fast, given the circumstances. It was not a checkpoint, but a patrol that started firing right after lighting up a spotlight. The firing was not justified by the movement of our automobile," Sgrena, a reporter for the Communist newspaper Il Manifesto, told Italian investigators, according to an account related by an official who interviewed her at a military hospital.

ROME - The companion of freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena on Saturday leveled serious accusations at US troops who fired at her convoy as it was nearing Baghdad airport, saying the shooting had been deliberate.

"The Americans and Italians knew about (her) car coming," Pier Scolari said on leaving Rome's Celio military hospital where Sgrena is to undergo surgery following her return home.

"They were 700 meters (yards) from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints."

The shooting late Friday was witnessed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office which was on the phone with one of the secret service agents, said Scolari. "THEN THE U.S MILITARY SILENCED THE CELLPHONES," he charged.

That's a cool move.

"They have have a microwave that can take out a building from, like, a thousand yards."

Good for them.

"GIULIANA HAD INFORMATION, and the US military did not want her to survive," he added.

According to the daily Corriere della Sera, the Italian intelligence officer who drove the car and who survived the attack insisted they were travelling at just 40 to 50 kilometres an hour (25 to 30 mph).

He was quoted as saying: "All of a sudden, a searchlight went on. Immediately afterwards, the shots began. The fire lasted for at least 10 seconds."

The team that fetched Sgrena had been in direct contact by telephone with the prime minister's office in Rome, where Mr Berlusconi, senior intelligence officers and the editor of Sgrena's newspaper were all celebrating her release with champagne. Corriere della Sera said that, after screaming at the Americans to stop, the intelligence officer called up again. "The Americans have shot at us," he shouted. "Nicola is dead. I have a machine gun pointing at me."

"Damn straight. We're at war."

That phone call, between the ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE AND THE "TEAM THAT FETCHED SGRENA" is gonna haunt a few people.

Back to the Wash Post article.

U.S. officials said the Italians failed to inform military or diplomatic officials that Sgrena was on her way to the airport.

(Italian) Opposition leaders raised questions about the incident. "Was there coordination between our intelligence service and the others in Iraq?" asked Piero Fassino, who heads the Democratic Left, the largest opposition faction. "Was the unified command in Iraq informed that a car was traveling to the airport with the just-liberated kidnapped person? What information was exchanged between our agencies and American forces?"

"Opposition leader? What is that? Another commie? Hey, commie. The Forces of Good were too busy fighting for your freedom. Shit happens."

Yes it does. Yes it does.

Doctors described Sgrena's condition as good and stable. Berlusconi, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the country's ceremonial president, and Walter Veltroni, mayor of Rome, attended a low-key welcoming ceremony for her. Pier Scolari, Sgrena's live-in companion, accompanied her from Baghdad after flying to Iraq overnight.

Sgrena, who had been taken hostage Feb. 4, gave few details about her captivity. She said her captors, who included a woman, did not mistreat her. She also said her pleas on a videotape released after she was seized were fed to her by her abductors. On the tape, she begs for her life and urges "pressure on the Italian government to withdraw its troops" from Iraq.

This story is gonna get weirder and weirder and weirder.

Was this an accident, or an assassination attempt?

If it was an assassination attempt, why?

WHAT DOES SHE KNOW? Stuff about Fallujah?

"The only thing she needs to know is that we're over there fighting for her freedom."

We'll see.

"No we won't. Somebody get the Michael Jackson people on the phone. We need some kind of new witness or something. Another young boy."